Keys to Understanding the New Vatican Document “Venite ad Me: Considerations on the Transmission of the Faith in an Epochal Change.” by the DDF
Doctrine of the Faith: Returning to Kerygma Amid Crisis in Passing on Faith
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has released a new document entitled “Venite ad Me: Considerations on the Transmission of the Faith in an Epochal Change.” The text explores how the Church must pivot to focus on evangelizing adults alongside its traditional catechesis for children and teenagers.
In a time of epochal change marked by a crisis in passing on the faith, “believers should embark on a renewed period of proclaiming the Gospel,” placing the primary proclamation—the kerygma—at its very heart: “Jesus Christ loves you; He gave His life to save you; and now He is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you” (EG 164).
This call forms the core appeal of Venite ad Me: Considerations on the Transmission of the Faith in an Epochal Change, published on Thursday, October 22, by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Structure and Purpose of the Document
The document comprises eight chapters, an introduction, and a conclusion. It draws extensively on the teachings of the Popes (particularly Pope Leo XIV and Pope Francis), the Second Vatican Council, and additional magisterial texts.
The text clarifies that it is framed as a set of Considerations rather than a Doctrinal Note. It therefore examines “a variety of points of view without, however, claiming to settle the matter, which remains open to further analysis and development.” Its central objective is to suggest “concrete paths for proclaiming the kerygma amid the epochal change we are experiencing.”
Approved by Pope Leo XIV on August 21, 2026, the document bears the signatures of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Msgr. Armando Matteo, Secretary for the Dicastery’s Doctrinal Section.
Valuable contributions were provided by numerous Bishops’ Conferences, alongside testimonies—submitted by Bishops—of individuals who discovered or rediscovered the Lord Jesus. These real-life accounts appear in the document's final chapter.
Key Themes & Chapter Summaries
1. Bearing Witness to a Personal Encounter with Christ
The document takes its starting point from Jesus’ invitation in the Gospel of Matthew: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest.”
As highlighted in the conclusion, the document “calls the faithful to return to the heart of the heritage of Christian faith. The kerygma is, in fact, its central content,” which “illuminates all the contents of the depositum fidei, drawing people toward the experience of a personal and communal encounter with the living Christ.” This urgent appeal accounts for the sobering reality that, in several regions of the world, the transmission of the faith “has all but ceased.”
2. Proclaiming God’s Love for Everyone
Opening its first chapter, the text emphasizes that “Jesus is indeed the true light that illuminates every person,” continuing: “This is the good news of the Gospel of the Son—that God is love, forever and for everyone.” Faith itself “is not transmitted primarily as a body of doctrinal content or religious information,” but “as a form of ecclesial life into which the believer is gradually introduced.”
3. Pastoral Ministry: Adults, Children, and Adolescents
While examining how faith is handed down, the document underlines that the Church “grows by attraction” and reinforces that the family remains the “first and most essential place for the transmission of the faith.” However, it acknowledges that this domestic transmission “has been interrupted in many parts of the world.”
Consequently, “the handing on of the experience of the Christian faith to new generations no longer occurs, so to speak, ‘automatically.’” “Only at this point, as a second stage, does the ecclesial community enter the process of transmitting the faith,” the text notes.
The document candidly addresses long-standing Christian areas:
“in countries with a long-standing Christian tradition, such a context for the transmission of the faith appears today to have been weakened, since it is increasingly characterized by the presence of ‘the baptized whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism,’ who lack a meaningful relationship to the Church and no longer experience the consolation born of faith.”
To address this shift, “the transmission of the faith today requires, in a particular way, the evangelization of adults and a move beyond pastoral ministry focused solely on the catechesis of children and adolescents.”
Cultural & Anthropological Context
An Epochal Change
Chapter three focuses on the current cultural landscape. Citing Magnifica Humanitas, where Pope Leo XIV stressed the urgency of determining humanity's direction amid shift, the text identifies a widespread “crisis in the intergenerational transmission of the Christian faith.”
“ever fewer parents are fulfilling their responsibility to introduce their children to the living light of the Gospel message.”
“It is precisely from such family settings that most of the young men and women come who, despite having been part of Catholic parish communities, eventually enter adulthood in a state of substantial religious indifference.”
Faith and Private Sphere
“The crisis of modernity, which is the hallmark of this epochal change, has thus contributed to the emergence of a new culture that has come into competition with the traditional structures through which the faith has been transmitted,” the text explains. The defining feature of this culture is the exaltation of the “sovereignty of the self”—a clear marker of secularization that attempts to relegate faith to the private domain.
Anthropological, Not Technological
Addressing modern digital shifts, the text notes how artificial intelligence alters both information systems and human relationships. As Pope Leo XIV observed in his 2026 World Communications Day message, “The challenge, therefore, is not technological, but anthropological.”
Conversions and Perseverance
While conversions are growing in secular areas, “there is also a parallel difficulty concerning the perseverance of neophytes, who often, shortly after receiving baptism, return to a state of practical indifference.” This dynamic “calls for a rediscovery of the importance of the community in welcoming and accompanying new members of the faithful.”
Pathways for Renewal
Centrality of the Kerygma
The document demands “a profound kerygmatic renewal of catechesis” driven by engaging interpersonal relationships and “an appeal from the heart.” Proclamation “be capable of presenting the good news of God’s love and mercy in such a way that those who receive it can truly understand that it is precisely to them that this love and mercy are directed.”
Community, Word, Liturgy, and Witness
Chapter five underscores four essential pillars:
The Word of God: “it is absolutely urgent—especially in countries with a long history of evangelization—to emphasize the importance of promoting, in every ecclesial community, groups dedicated to listening to, meditating on, sharing, and praying with the Word, with regular times set aside for their meetings, complementing the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist.”
Liturgy: “If the heart of the Christian proclamation is the encounter with God’s saving love in Christ, the liturgy constitutes the privileged place in which this mystery is celebrated and communicated sacramentally.”
Witness: Defined through three dimensions: “the witness of holiness, that of closeness, and that of the preferential option for the poor.”
Art & Culture: Highlights art, beauty, and music, alongside the inculturation of faith, which “constitutes a necessary step in its transmission.”
Specific Areas of Focus
Popular Piety: Remains “an important means of transmitting the faith today,” alongside pilgrimages and confraternities.
Preaching & Service: Emphasizes the role of homilies and volunteer work as entry points to Church life.
Leadership: Highlights the “need to expand opportunities for women to participate in the leadership of ecclesial processes.”
Conclusion
The Considerations reaffirm that Christ is the true light. The document concludes with a direct commission: “It is now up to us to pass on this same gift to the men and women of our time,” who await the “possibility of kindling their lives from that same source of every grace, the light that shines in the world.”
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